I woke up pretty early....probably just before 7 am...thinking about the drive into the D.C. metro area. Driving into and around congested metropolitan areas give me the heeby jeebees. If it weren't for the "honor" I'd just as soon pass......a saying from my father that seems so apropos to this situation.
The park we were headed for, Greenbelt Park, seemed like it would work for us, but you just don't know until you get in there. Their website indicates 36' and under will be fine in the "D" loop, but based on the aerials I saw of the camp sites it seemed like we might be able to squeeze our 62' in one, or two of the sites. This is an old National Park and the interior roads are narrow, like most of the older National Parks. We decided we would find a large parking lot a few miles away from the park to unload the T-Bird and then drive into the park to do our survey. TLE found a Home Depot about 4 miles from the park so that was our immediate destination for the day.
We left Cumberland before 9 am and continued our downward trek from elevation......the first 10 miles consisted of one long 6% downhill grade. After that we went up and down a lot. I spent a lot of time in 3rd gear grinding up 6% grades, and going down them. Even though our driving distance was only 145 miles for the day I felt like I had driven 300 by the time we exited the Interstate in Greenbelt, MD. I could see the Home Depot from the exit ramp, so I thought...."okay, this should be easy"......famous last words. As we entered the driveway for the Home Depot it was uphill with a sharp right hand turn into the parking lot. On top of that there was a lot of traffic exiting as we were attempting to enter. In addition to that there was a semi parked in front of the store unloading, and suddenly we were stuck. The van coming at me could not move forward so I could get by, and I could not move forward or the trailer would clip his driver side mirror. He would move 12" and I would move 12".......finally I was able to get by him, and he by me......barely......as I watched in my rear view mirror I could see the driver of the van watching the trailer come within 2" of his mirror as I inched forward.....his eyes got bigger, and my eyes got bigger....and then we were by him......whew!!!
We found a place to park and then I just kind of melted into a puddle of sweat for about 15 minutes. Okay, we were in the lot, but how were we going to get out? No doubt my anxiety made things appear worse than they were, but as we got in the T-Bird to drive over to Greenbelt Park all I could think about was how I was going to exit that tight parking lot.
It took about 10 minutes for the drive over to the park. Once you enter Greenbelt it is another 2.5 miles to the campground area......it is way in the back of the park. The only loop open for our length was "D" loop, so that is where we headed. As we drove around the loop once, then a second time, it appeared there were, just as I had thought, a couple of spots that would work for us without dropping the trailer. After getting out our phone compasses we determined that site 147 would also give us a view of the southern sky. We quickly paid our registration fee, put the sticker on the post for site 147 and then headed back to the Home Depot to retrieve the coach and trailer.
As it turned out the large semi that was partially blocking the entrance had left, and the noon traffic had subsided, so exiting turned out to be a "cake walk". The right turn from Cherry Hill Rd. onto HWY 1 was tight, but TLE used the T-Bird to block traffic in the lane to my right so I could get around the corner without crunching anyone.....what a woman!
As we drove into "D" loop to our spot we had the attention of several campers probably all wondering what was I thinking bringing that 62' behemoth into this park, but we got to our spot.......it is a long pull through right next to the road.......I pulled into and through to the other end, then backed up perfectly....I mean first try.....into the spot so that neither the coach, nor trailer was in the roadway. The ranger came by...stopped momentarily, then just said "NICE!" and drove on.
By this time it was going on 2 pm.....I got a call from an insurance customer, then set up my computer so I could take care of a few insurance issues. Of course, I got out the small Honda 1000 watt generator, plugged it in and we had power. I could run off the intverter, but, since we have been dry camping the past 2 nights and had not driven very far each day the house batteries were not back up to 100%....I think Wendesday they got back to 89% being recharged by what little direct sun we had, and the alternator as we drove. Hopefully we'll have sun in the next few days.....that's the forecast, but in the interim I can put some power back in them with the Honda.
Thursday we'll begin our exploration of Washington D.C.....we are very excited to be in our Nation's Capitol for the first time. It was cool driving along the Interstate and seeing signs for Langley, Bethesda, and all those little enclaves you hear about over the years.....and here we are right in the heart of it!
Thanks for stopping by!
You know Clarke that's how we feel when we drop down the Grapevine and hit Hwy 99 and see the Valley and all those grapes. But please watch out for those DC drivers you think the 105 is bad.... And when you go to leave I get over to that Home Depot and wait it out till around 7pm and hit 70 to the Brezzewood Pa (3 big truckstops) for the night.
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